Appetite For Disaster: Guns N' Roses Walk Off At O2 Gig [Updated]

Disaster was in the air at tonight's Guns N' Roses gig at The O2 when front man Axl Rose walked off stage after only 20 minutes. Fans were left bitterly disappointed after waiting for over an hour for the band to appear on stage in the first instance.

Trouble was brewing as fans began to get agitated whilst waiting for Guns N' Roses to come on stage, only making an appearance at 10.25pm - well over an hour after the support act, Danko Jones, had finished playing. Some angry fans booed and threw a few beer/water bottles on stage in protest at the delay.

After a mediocre start, Axl Rose stopped the band after breaking into Welcome to the Jungle - just as the crowd were beginning to be won over - after another bottle was thrown up on stage. At this he announced "one more bottle and we're going home, we're here to have fun and we hope you are too, but one more and we are gone" (have a gander at the video from the gig in Best of the Web)

The gig continued for another 3 songs and as Rose was introducing the band, another missile was thrown. At this, Rose took the band, bid his goodnight and stormed off the stage at about 10.50pm.

Just after 11pm, a member of the O2 staff arrived on stage telling the crowd that there were some "technical difficulties" and they were trying to get GnR back on stage. A short while after, another staff member arrived on stage to plead with the now depleting crowd to stop throwing bottles as they were still trying to get Axl Rose to return to the stage. 11.10pm, the main lights came on and the majority of the crowd left The O2.

The night was not over yet however, with GnR returning to the stage at about 11.25pm and continued playing a set to a small but pretty irate crowd.

No official statement has been issued as of yet, nor any news about refunds - if any - but stay tuned for further updates.

"Despite every effort being made by promoters to ensure Guns N' Roses would go on stage on time, they went on at 22.26hrs having been due to be on stage at 21.45hrs, support artist finished at 21:00hrs.

During the second song Axl requested members of crowd who were throwing plastic glass's containing unknown substances to immediately stop or he would have no option but to leave the stage. He confirmed band's wish to perform stating "we want to stay..one more bottle and we go home". Despite his continued appeals, having tried to continue performing for 22 minutes, people continued throwing unknown substances leaving artist with no choice but to leave the stage.

From the stage MCD Promoter Denis Desmond again appealed to audience to refrain from throwing items and stated that the band would be back on stage shortly.

The artist was prevented from leaving the venue by the Promoter and following backstage discussions Guns N' Roses went back on stage at 23.20 hrs and performed their full set until 00.53 hrs.

While the artist has a long history for being late on stage (Slane 1992 - crowd waiting 2 hours and last weekend's UK Reading festival), NO artist should be subjected to missiles and unknown substances being thrown at them. However, despite this the band went back on stage after people stopped throwing items performing their full set of songs in full.

MCD and The 02 wish to apologise for any inconvenience caused due to late running of the show."

brownel

Check out this link, someone took a pic of wikipedia before it got cleared, hard to read but you get the jist. Was a disgrace, we waited till 11.20 and then were told by security that it was over so left, bf is a bit p'vd we left since they came back on. He should've kept going as that other person said earlier, he was winning the crowd but when he stopped and moaned after one song, he lost the crowd again. The technical difficulties was the most ridiculous thing, trying to use that as an excuse! Plus, the guitarist who fancies himself the new slash was trying to do the playing the guitar with a cigarette hanging out his mouth but couldnt do both at the same time so threw it on the stage! Hope he gets his fine too!
http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=l8y2e&s=7
http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=l8y2e&s=7

The support act came on at 8.01 and finished at 9.10 and then we waited. Finally at 10.32 the grand Diva, or should that be Divo, came on stage. By now the crowd was in steady hiss mode and the booing was beginning to sound like distraught cows. It had to be obvious to everyone, even those that weren't quite sober, that this crowd was angry. An apology or some form of acknowledgment would have been the respectful way to treat fans who paid their hard earned money to keep Axl Rose in the style he would like to remain accustomed to. But no, he ignored the anger and ended up having 3 plastic bottle thrown at him. This was just too much for the little boy rocker and he exited stage left.
The lights came on and O2 staff told us he had left the building. What a sham

have been to a fair few gigs in my time and no band has ever come on that late whatever about stage set up it was a foolish thing to leave a crowd to get p**sed and then come out way later than planned....
I don't think people were throwing bottles at the band it seemed like they were just baying for Axl's blood he didn't apologise and he stopped the song and walked off the stage after he didn't acknowledge the crowds unhappy but obvious mood so yep I agree with your statement " Guns n roses were not to blame." Axl Rose was....
he stood in the centre of the stage went through the motions of part singing songs and pretty much didn't budge an inch after they came back out and then pretty much dropped mike and walked off...
it was clear it was his problem the band were all over the place they made up for his lack of energy and enthusiasm, maybe that was Axl's problem in the first place he just wasn't up for the gig who knows?
but what was clear was that the staff of the O2 told people that the gig was over when it clearly had not been established in doing so sent a lot of very unhappy gig goers away from the venue... although anyone who is surprised at this performance needs to check themselves its Axl Rose for God sake! its expected!!!

@Tomm65
What absolute rubbish.
Dank Jones went off stage at 9pm on the dot!
The crew were done 15 minutes later.
I was right at the front and all the roadies were doing were killing time and trying to make it appear as if something was being done.
You think professional rodies needed 90 minutes to change guitar racks and mics over?
The man is attention seeking primadonna and never apologized to crowd for the 90 minute wait.

sorry just a quick point whatever time Dank Jones? finished at is irrelevant they were really bad and people didn't even know who they were, they had come to see Guns n Roses 10:37 start which is the time I clocked them at... for any headline act is waaayyy too late to come on stage it was incredibly foolish or obviously planned to get the reaction it got... Axl Rose was told to go back on stage he looked like a bold child... he didn't get the outcome he was looking for I reckon...

just rememeber, at Slane 92, GnR were late hitting the stage aswell - but atleast we occasionally got told that they were on the way and that placated the crowd - there was no such information last night

If Axl had just said something about being late and apologised, i think the crowd would have been less blood hungry. Never seen anything like it in my life. We left about 15 minutes after the second announcement having asked the guy who was operating the lift was it over. Nothing except a full refund will do. Can anyone confirm who the promoter is so I can write an email. Thanks.

It's pretty obvious that the only people behaving like babies at that gig were the Dubliners who were, literally, throwing their bottles out of the pram. Clearly these scumbags don't deserve a performance from someone of Axl's magnitude, or any other rock star for that matter. Guns N' Roses pretty much always hit the stage after 10, as anyone there should know. If that's past your bedtime, tough. The band don't need you, and if you're going to throw things and try to injure them of course they're going to leave. Perhaps if you all grow up a bit, and learn how to express yourselves in ways that don't involve throwing things, you might get a full gig next time.

@tomfriend... Im a fan of Guns 'N Roses... and I went to the concert last night knowing he might be late on... I didnt throw a bottle, But I did pay 70 odd euro for my ticket, I think people were right to throw bottle's... teach Axl a lesson..! Maybe he might stop being such a Diva... and get on with it! Magnitude....... Hah.. your gas!

Statement issued by Promoters MCD & the management of The O2 regarding the Guns N' Roses concert at The 02, Dublin, Wednesday 1st September 2010.
Despite every effort being made by promoters to ensure Guns N' Roses would go on stage on time, they went on at 22.26hrs having been due to be on stage at 21.45hrs, support artist finished at 21:00hrs.
During the second song Axl requested members of crowd who were throwing plastic glass's containing unknown substances to immediately stop or he would have no option but to leave the stage. He confirmed band's wish to perform stating "we want to stay..one more bottle and we go home". Despite his continued appeals, having tried to continue performing for 22 minutes,
people continued throwing unknown substances leaving artist with no choice but to leave the stage.
From the stage MCD Promoter Denis Desmond again appealed to audience to refrain from throwing items and stated that the band would be back on stage shortly.
The artist was prevented from leaving the venue by the Promoter and following backstage discussions Guns N' Roses went back on stage at 23.20 hrs and performed their full set until 00.53 hrs.
While the artist has a long history for being late on stage (Slane 1992 - crowd waiting 2 hours and last weekend's UK Reading festival), NO artist should be subjected to missiles and unknown substances being thrown at them. However, despite this the band went back on stage after people stopped throwing items performing their full set of songs in full.
MCD and The 02 wish to apologise for any inconvenience caused due to late running of the show.

I am SOOOOOOO glad I didn't go to this gig. I was at Slane in '97 and when they eventually came on stage they were fabulous but the wait was excruciating and unfair. It was a VERY hot day and people were collapsing from the heat but no one seemed to care. I have subequently found out that while we were all waiting on them Axl Rose was still in his Dublin hotel on his exercise bike drinking Jack Daniels and refusing to perform. MCD clearly have no respect for the people who attend their gigs because if they did they would offer a refund. Disgraceful behaviour from both band and promoter.

"stated that the band would be back on stage shortly" - He didn't state anything. He said they were trying to get Axl to come back out. After 30 minutes people gave up when the main lights came on and left. Then all of a sudden the lights went off and they came back on stage. There was no information flow from O2 staff or promoters. This does not excuse the behaviour of the scumbags throwing bottles who ruined it for everyone.

I have contacted ticketmaster regarding a refund and they have replied to me that MCD have said, because they came back out and finished the set, there will be no refunds. Surely MCD ( or Entertainment.ie!!) could give something back to the fans??

true paul, I walked out about 5 mins after the lights came on... .MCD said nobody is getting a refund.. Everyone know's when the lights in a pub, club, theatre or arena come on... its either an Interval or shows over, MCD wont give a refund because they have no way of telling who left or who stayed till the death...!

great gig in the end.
some PR skills missing by a lot of those involved.
successive governments and banks screw us over for many years to come what do we do?
a rockstar turns up and hour late there's uproar

I feel really sorry for the GNR's fans that went to the gig last night. Having gone to loads of gigs in the O2 since it reopened, I have never yet been at a gig that went on past 11.15, Eddie Vaedar of PJ sang past the curfew time but only by one song, I would say that MCD don't have a leg to stand on as regards an artist coming on and playing til 1am when most of the people had gone home. I thankfully didnt go to the gig as I went to SLASH in Vicar Street in June. He was amazing, he had played at Glastenbury the previous weekend and still played to a very small crowd in Vicar Street. I would recommend his new album to GNR fans, time to move on.

Axl is suppose to be a hard man of rock, they were a few plastic bottles for feck sake, if they were glass, fair enough, get the hell off, but they were plastic and the O2 dont even let you keep the tops of the bottles, so there is no force in them. Axl is a big p**sy boy either that or he just didnt want to play and this was his way of baiting the crowd and getting off. McCartney (age 68) in the RDS in June. Started at 8.15, finished at 11.10, played 38 songs non stop. take note Axl

Posted 11:47 | Fri 3rd Sep 2010

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